


Shady Mansion

by DarkGreiga



Series: Seasonal-Themed [1]
Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 11:44:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21252857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkGreiga/pseuds/DarkGreiga
Summary: Halloween fic, post epilogue. The 13th of Shadow Decan is celebrated as Shady Night in Auldrant once more, with Peony deciding on throwing a party to celebrate it. With Jade is in charge of the party logistics and the interesting invitations made, the Shady Night is going to be an unforgettable experience.





	Shady Mansion

**Author's Note:**

> An attempt on writing for Halloween while trying to bring up an old fandom, so I might've done a bit hit-and-miss with the characterization here. Hopefully not so much and please enjoy!

He was focusing on the paperwork he had on the desk in his office, though they were mostly for military training for the new recruits to the military force of Malkuth. He was used to the big numbers written on the paper he had to go through and as long as he could focus, he could finish the calculations for the number of required rations and funding for the training sessions.

He had to emphasis on the word _focus_, seeing as his pace in handling the paperwork was getting slower from the unexpected guest sitting on his desk, talking about his ideas by himself. The king himself had showed up in his office, completely unannounced like usual, and literally getting in the way of his work for the day.

“And then, we can use that fonic holo-”

“I’m afraid I have to decline your wonderful ideas, Your Majesty.”

“Jade,” the emperor had stood up from the necromancer’s desk, unblocking the paperwork he had to finish, before the emperor put his hands on the desk and prevented the necromancer from doing any work at all, “This is the first time in years that Shady Night is being celebrated again. The party this year should be memorable and do you know how to make the party more memorable?”

“Put Dist in chains and hang him upside down for everyone to see?” Jade looked at him with a smirk on his face, “Well, that should be quite a memorable party, especially for Dist himself.”

“Come on, that’s not how you’re going to treat Saphir this year!” Peony had put his hands on his hips as he smiled at his necromancer friend, “You and Saphir are going to use the fonic hologram as a part of the main event in the party. You can create an image of a resized monster, for example.”

“That machine is still experimental and any misuse could cause for the entire Grand Chokmah to explode.”

“I trust that you and Saphir could take care of that issue before it happens, right?”

The emperor was either not listening carefully or that he was too carefree about possible dangers the machine could’ve caused. Not that it would cause a city as big as the capital to explode when something went wrong, but a building-sized explosion was worth mentioning at least. Except that possibility wasn’t enough as an excuse for the emperor not to use it.

“Your Majesty, I’m against the idea of using a military weapon for a simple party. It was originally made to fool the enemies by luring them into traps-”

“Isn’t the Shady Night about trick-or-treating? If you don’t give treats you’ll get tricked, pretty much like how the machine is made for, right?”

Jade let out a sigh. He certainly didn’t come up with the idea for the machine for the silliness his childhood friend had suggested. He _could_ tolerate him just this once since he asked, though he wasn’t planning on joining the party in the first place.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” the necromancer’s eyes didn’t meet the emperor’s as he tried shifting his attention back to his paperwork, “Don’t miss out on the party, okay? The 13th of Shadow Decan only comes once a year and I’ve designed the costumes for you, Gailardia, and myself. I only need to have those costumes picked up later today.”

“Please stop using the national treasury for your personal hobbies again, Your Majesty.”

“Because this is for a national event, the council agreed to it,” Peony saw that Jade was busying himself with the paperwork once more, prompting him to take it off his desk, “And because a certain Colonel Jade Curtiss needs to take a break from work, I’ve made him in charge of the party’s logistics and an invite to the party itself.”

“Your Majesty, I’m simply doing my job for this empire, unlike a certain emperor who likes to slack off all the time and coming here unannounced,” Jade fixed his glasses as he rose from his seat, “Are the invitations sent out yet?”

“I only need either you or Gailardia to send the invitation for your friends. It’s been a few months since we all saw Luke and the others, right?”

A reunion party. He would expect his friend to do so after he heard the news about Luke’s safe return a few months previously. He would originally be missing out such parties, but for once he felt like a reunion with the others wouldn’t be so bad.

“Very well. I shall head out soon to deliver-”

“Speaking of taking a break, I’ll need you to take my rappigs for a walk later, okay? I think my cute little Jade is eager to take a walk around the city after spending a few hours trapped in my chambers!” the necromancer had put a finger on his glasses at the mention of his name, not because it was him that the emperor was referring to, rather the rappig named after him.

“How many times have I told you not to use other people’s name to name your rappigs, Your Majesty?” the reflection on Jade’s glasses had made it hard for Peony to see his expression, but the stern tone had told him what he needed, if only that he would actually listen.

“Well, not-so-cute Jade,” Peony put his hands together eagerly, ignoring the slight warning the necromancer had given him, “I’ll trust you that you’ll make the decors as good as possible, okay? After all, we’re inviting people from Malkuth and Kimlasca to celebrate and we don’t want to have disappointed guests over not-so-scary party decors, do we?”

“I believe I won’t have enough time to handle everything if I’m the one to take your rappigs for a walk,” he gave his friend a shrug, “I might as well cook them for the party’s-”

“You’re not laying a hand on my cute Jade, you uncute Jade! If that’s the case then I shall ask Gailardia to take them for a walk!”

“Oh well, I suppose I can have some other dishes for the party.”

Jade left his office while forcing the emperor to go back to his rightful place as well as the colonel picked up the invitations he was supposed to hand out to Luke and the others. The unusual choice of paper for the envelopes had got him unusually curious that he had to see what Peony’s staffs had made. The amusing content he saw in there had curved a smile on his lips before he put the content back into the envelope.

It would be quite a Shady Night for the year, if he had to say.

* * *

The group of six had made it to the old-looking mansion in the middle of an unnamed forest in the middle of the night. Moving white lights visible through the cracked windows were the only things illuminating the dark forest, though not without the loud sound of doors opening and closing coming from the inside. The blowing night wind was also slamming the side windows open and close while adding in the chills to the quiet night.

“Oh, is this the haunted building we’re supposed to investigate?” the blonde princess, dressed up in her Star of Malkuth costume, looked up at the old building in awe, “The scary appearance from the outside… the cold breeze blowing around… This sort of scary atmosphere is just like what I have always dreamed of having in Shady Night!”

“T-This mansion looks dangerous… S-Should we call off the investigation?” the brunette sergeant, dressing up as a cat lady, was slowly backing away from the group, until a pair of hands on her shoulder froze her movement.

“Don’t tell me…” a piece of white cloth emerged from behind her, “Are you scared?”

Tear’s ear-piercing scream had gained the other’s attention as she slapped the hands off her shoulder before running up to the front of the group, “L-Luke! S-Stop sneaking behind someone’s back!”

“Oh, come on!” Luke took off the white cloth covering his body, letting the wind blow his long red hair back and forth, “You were the one to drag me here to prevent suspicious people trying to trick others in this Shady Night thing!”

“Well, Luke’s got a point,” Guy, dressing up as the werewolf, responded, “His Majesty took the time to make costumes for me and Jade to disguise ourselves as part of those people for this investigation. The council isn’t going to be too happy if this investigation fails after all that money spent on these costumes.”

Anise, who was dressed up as a small black and pink devil, glanced at the red-head nobleman as he draped the white cloth on him once more, “I guess he should make Luke something for the next year… I don’t know what he’s supposed to be…”

“I’m dressing up as a ghost!” Luke exclaimed, putting his hands above his head as if trying to scare the soon-to-be Fon Master, “This is how they’re supposed to look like, right?”

Guy looked at his best friend nervously, trying to push away his intention of questioning Luke’s choice of costumes, “I-I guess…” the blond turned to the black-coated necromancer facing the building, who had been unusually quiet through the entire conversation, “Hey, don’t you have anything else to say about the investigation mission, Vampire Jade?”

“Oh?” the necromancer turned to the group, showing them his fake fangs with a smile, “I thought you’ve explained everything that I don’t have to add anything else.”

“You haven’t changed at all, Jade,” Luke commented, looking unimpressed at the necromancer, “I thought that two years at least changed you… somehow…”

Jade let out a sigh, “While I’d really love to continue this idle chatter with all of you, I do believe that we have something important to do tonight?”

“Y-Yes, Colonel is right,” Tear nodded in agreement as she nervously looked at the old mansion, “S-So, let’s finish this investigation quickly!”

* * *

Be quick would be their plan, especially with the cold sensation they felt the moment they stepped into the old mansion. The white lights they saw through the window weren’t there, as they only light they could see would be the blood-red lamp suddenly lighting up above them. Creaking sound was heard from behind them, followed by the loud slamming of the door behind them.

“Luke! Close the door without slamming it, will you?”

“I didn’t even touch the door!”

Guy turned to see Luke standing right behind him, far from the suddenly slamming door. Anise was the last one to enter and was closest to the door, but he never thought of her to be someone who would slam a door like that. So who did…?

“I believe the ghosts don’t like having their doors open in this windy night,” Natalia calmly commented as she bowed down towards the empty air in front of them, “I apologize about the door, Mister Ghost. Please excuse our intrusion.”

“I-I-If the g-g-ghosts don’t like it, s-s-shall we head back instead?”

“I’m afraid it won’t be possible,” the group traced Jade’s line-of-sight to the rusty lock on the door, “It looks like we’re locked in for the time being.”

“Now, everyone,” Natalia’s clapping had gained everyone’s attention plus Tear’s nervous and fearful gaze, “Shall we start this investigation adventure?”

“I guess that’s our only option…” Anise glanced at the brunette sergeant, whose face was as white as the cloth Luke had over him, “But Tear looks a little-”

“I-I’m fine!” the tone of her voice was telling the opposite, “T-There are no ghosts here! None!”

“Why are you worked up now?” the red-head asked cluelessly.

“I’m not!”

“Yes, yes,” Jade shrugged before he took another look at the mansion’s interior, “Because Tear is _perfectly_ fine with everything in here, we should get started. The lack of sleep over a long investigation is an old man’s enemy, if you don’t know.”

The necromancer had turned away from the group, walking ahead and up the set of stairs at the end of the corridor.

“Hey… Don’t you think that the Colonel is acting a bit strange tonight?”

The group had taken the stairs up as well with Jade being the one leading them a few steps in front, with Anise watching Jade walking in almost a rush. They couldn’t tell his expression as he kept having his back turned to them, not looking back at the group as they went through the dimly-lit corridors of the mansion.

“When is Jade not being strange anyway?” Luke gave his response as he casually put his arms behind his head, “Still, what are we looking for here anyway? It’s too dark to really see any-”

The sound of glass breaking nearby had startled the group, but not as much as the suddenly blinking red light before it suddenly went out. Out of fear, Tear let out a shriek as she tried grabbing anyone nearby she could grab, though what she felt in her hands had only caused her to be more frightened. It was cold, it was hard, it was rough, and it was definitely _not_ a person.

The sergeant quickly backed away to bump into soft cloth, before letting out another yell as she pushed the cloth away with a loud thud.

“Ouch! Who pushed me?!”

“L-Luke…?”

The red light lit the hall once more, revealing the red-head, half-covered by the white cloth, leaning against the wall next to a room as he rubbed the back of his head in pain.

“My, that was quite a surprise,” the princess peeked into the room next to Luke, “I thought I saw something moving towards this room. Shall we go in and check?”

“That depends if Jade isn’t…” Guy turned to the direction where Jade was before the sudden blackout, only finding nobody standing there, “Uh… everyone… Jade and Anise are missing…”

“Oh dear!” the princess gasped in surprise, “We need to find them and make sure they are doing fine!”

“What are they doing suddenly disappearing like that anyway?” as the red-head was being helped back to his feet by Tear, more sounds of glass breaking were heard, “W-What’s that?!”

“It must be the ghost living in this mansion!” Natalia had concluded immediately as she quickly approached the room at the end of the hall, “I must confront this ghost and ask about our missing friends immediately!”

“Wait! Natalia!” Guy quickly chased after her, “It’s too dangerous to go on your own!”

“Hey! Don’t leave us behind too!” Luke’s shouting had echoed in the hall as the two had already gone ahead into the room. He took Tear’s wrist, much to her surprise, before he dragged her with him as he ran towards the room, “Come on, Tear! We need to catch up to them!”

“W-Wait, Luke! Maybe we shouldn’t…” the sergeant had struggled to let herself go from his strong grip, though her struggle came from the fact that she felt too afraid of being left alone in the quiet hall. At least Luke was there with her, though she certainly did _not_ want to be involved with the nonexistent beings bothering them.

Luke had slammed the door open, with Tear staying still at the doorway.

“Guy! Natalia!”

There was no response at all. The room itself was pitch dark, with the only light coming from the red light at the hall as the door was still opened. The light had only revealed a table in the room with broken plates under it.

Luke took his first step into the room, only to step on broken glasses at the entrance, “What’s this?” he crouched down to pick up a large piece among the broken glasses, holding it up to see it more clearly, “A broken wine glass?”

Tear’s frightened shriek was heard once more, getting Luke’s attention.

“What is now, Tear?” he had turned to face her, dropping his arms down to let the white cloth cover him entirely once more. The sergeant’s face was getting paler and paler as she looked at him, “I guess me dressing up as a ghost is scary enough for you, huh? And Anise said that… what?”

Luke followed Tear’s finger as she shakily pointed at something in the room, finding a floating plate above him.

“W-What?!”

The red-head quickly jumped out of the way and out of the room, letting the plate fall hard into the ground with a loud shatter. More flying plates came after, flinging themselves at the two as Tear froze in place from both shock and fright. Luke had to pull her out of the way as they tried running through the dimly-lit corridors to find another way out.

The two of them went to the higher floors instead, hoping to find something they could use too get, even if it meant climbing down building through the window. Their search, however, was stopped when they trying to catch their breaths from all the running, and the sound of footsteps was heard nearby. They weren’t alone and whoever it was approaching them wasn’t visible to them.

Except for a split second.

A black shadow had passed through the wall to get into the room across, passing through the wall once more. The temperature went cold around them for a moment, before some hard stick-like objects suddenly landed on their shoulders. They both froze, not daring to look back, only to have the lights turned off once more.

“RUN!!!”

Luke had yelled at the top of his lungs as he forcefully grabbed Tear once more to run through the darkness aimlessly. Their escape from whatever or whoever that was had led them running and bumping through various objects they couldn’t see, before ending up falling through a hole they could see. The light at the end of the hole was blinding them as they had spent too much time being used to the dark surroundings.

“Well, looks like everyone is finally here!”

Luke looked up from the familiar voice he heard to see his blond friend offering a hand at him, “G-Guy? But… what’s going on?! I thought that you and Natalia were-”

“Someone who knows the answer is right there,” Guy had pointed at the direction of the person standing by the spotlights, “His Majesty had planned all this as a part of the Shady Night party.”

“Please wait,” Tear had already calmed herself down as she looked at her previously-missing comrades in confusion, “Did everyone know about this… except for us…?”

“Nope, Colonel explained everything to us when we fell into holes just like you two did,” Anise looked at the necromancer with a pouty look, “The Colonel has been keeping everything a secret from us!”

Jade let out a sigh, “Clearly it won’t be my fault because none of you asked about the details.”

“Then the plates and the lights are…?”

“Those are remotely controlled,” the emperor had joined into the conversation before he lightly gave an elbow at the necromancer, “Isn’t that right, Jade?”

“I wasn’t a part of it, but Dist was the one who made them,” Jade had touched his glasses once more, making the reflection on the glasses cover his eyes, “Now, I shall take my leave-”

The music in the room had stopped suddenly, prompting the emperor himself to turn it back on, “Ah, I think it’s behaving strangely again. I think I should have my staff contact Saphir once more about it.”

There was a short pause as Jade let the emperor leave the group before he let out a smile, “Well, it could be one of those strange phenomenons during these times of the year around here. This building was the place where a massacre used to take place in the past, after all.”

A sudden chill ran through their spines once more.

“W-Wait, Colonel,” Jade turned to the nervous Tear, “T-Those plates and the skeleton hands were part of the setup, correct?”

“His Majesty had asked me about using a military technology for that,” Jade’s answer had washed away the worry on the sergeant’s face, though only for a moment as the necromancer wasn’t done, “But I declined that idea.”

A look of realization and fear was visible on Luke as he looked at him, “T-Then… what was…”

The light in the room went out, followed by the groans of the other guests in the party.

“H-Hey, Jade…” Guy couldn’t see the necromancer in the dark as he asked, “This is Dist’s work on the lights too, right?”

“Who knows? Maybe it could be the ghosts who don’t like us having a loud Shady Night party in their house…”

There was a moment of silence before a loud thud was heard, followed by the group’s screaming and footsteps away from him.

“… assuming that’s the truth. Oh well, it’s nice that it’s a lot quieter here now.”

**Author's Note:**

> The costumes used are mostly official, with Tear, Natalia, and Anise wearing their title costumes and Guy with the werewolf costume from his Asteria unit. Luke is... well, being Luke and using a simple white cloth to be a ghost and Jade is forced to dress up as a black-clad vampire. Hope you guys enjoyed it and have a Happy Halloween!


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